A Day Out…an Important Need

It is often difficult to find things we can do with all the kids from the safe house as their ages vary so much, and with such limited funding most activities we want do with them are just too far out of our budget. But thankfully, nature is always free in many areas, you just have to know how to get there.

So it was on a hot day in the very high heat of summer that we came up with a plan…

All the children were on school holiday, but sadly they were stuck spending it at the safe house in the township, with nothing at all to do. The township has its good points, but so much of it is made up of gangs, drugs, prostitution, thieving, trafficking, and a high amount of alcoholism. Even young children take part in these things, because the poverty and joblessness and fatherlessness leaves them little choice. So many children go missing, especially the teens. And they are never seen again. No one looks for them, no one can afford to, and much of the police forces are corrupt. This is why its so dire for us to give these young lives something more to strive and hope for. These just need hope. And we believe so much hope is found in nature and wildlife.

Every chance we get, we get them out into wildlife, to learn and to just have fun.

We know how hard their caretakers work, and so on this day we offered, if they could provide us transport, to take ALL the kids and their friends to spend the afternoon at a beach!

So with transportation provided, we all headed to a child friendly area with a nice beach and shallow water so the little ones could also play safely.

A back drop of mountains and forests, and the grand ocean beyond towering heads, this was an area where the ocean water met with rivers and ran into a lagoon.

What better place for children to play and enjoy on a hot summer day?

It was a wild and chaotic day, full of laughing and swimming, and we were quite exhausted by the end of it! We needed a lot more eyes to keep track of such a big group! 

But we managed, and had fun doing it.

We all picnicked on the shoreline, and only returned home in the warm summer evening.

Everyone, from littlest children to oldest teens, had had a great time!